ABC’s Mark Willacy named 2019 Queensland Journalist of the Year

Posted 8th September 2019

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The ABC’s Mark Willacy was named 2019 Journalist of the Year at last night’s Queensland Clarion Awards for his Four Corners exposé “Inside the Watch House”.

Almost three years after Four Corners exposed mistreatment in the NT’s Don Dale youth detention centre, sparking a Royal Commission, “Inside the Watch House” revealed a new child detention crisis in Queensland, with children as young as 10 being held alongside adult criminals in maximum security facilities.

The judges said Willacy’s report was “a masterpiece of investigative journalism into the horrors children were forced to endure at an adult detention facility”. They praised his “in-depth reporting, incredible access and forensic approach to the thousands of documents he obtained”.

The program had immediate impact, with the Queensland Premier announcing the creation of a new Youth Justice Department in the same week it went to air.

Willacy also took out four other categories, for investigative journalism, indigenous issues reporting, with Alexandra Blucher, and radio and TV current affairs reporting.

His ABC colleagues across Queensland won awards for analysis, multicultural reporting, radio news and broadcast interviewing.

The ABC has grown remarkably since it launched on 1 July 1932. This is a snapshot of our achievements, programs and personalities and celebrates the ABC's contribution to Australian life for more than 80 years.